Leaving

Today was our last day here... and I must say it's rather bittersweet. I mean, the work was hard and I'm sure at least one time this week, all of us wanted to go home, but we all got through it. And I feel rather accomplished. Even though it might not look to the rest of the world like we accomplished a lot... we did. 1250 cinder blocks that were moved and moved again... I learned quite a bit, too. Long week, very tiring, very rewarding.
~Michaela C

Work Day # 1

Today was the first day that we actually worked, even though we are still exhausted.  Sadly the weather was not cooperative so we were unable to begin on Brandon's house. Instead we helped out around the community center.  We carried countless cupboards down stairs and they were extremely heavy.  We all had the privilege to meet Brandon and his family at a Kiwanis club meeting for lunch.  I feel we are all excited to start on the house tomorrow and we hope that the weather stays nice.  We have grown together a lot as a group in the past two days and have created many MANY new jokes.  I cannot wait to see what the rest of this week holds.  We love squatches and random people doing random things on the streets.  <3

:) Meggie

P.S. People from Tennessee say that they call themselves and are hillbillies.  Also you can find pink toilets in thrift shops here.

The pictures only show the first shift of cabniets. 

First Day

So, we all got up today ridiculously early today and just took a fourteen hour trip to Tennessee. It was kind of funny, the furter south we went, the more accents there were. Also, Amber had a Cowbell that was rung every time we got to a new state. The road to the community center was a bit scary, but we survived, so yay.

Michaela C (stupid place has no Wi-Fi. Sad.)

We also do not have phone service at the center. - Amber

Fleur di lis photo

Here is a photo of the fleur di lis the girls made in the yard next to the house they worked in. The "blocks" came from Reisie's house across the street. She will be moving soon so many people helped her move her rose bushes to neighboring yards for the time being. Reisie was very kind to all of us, feeding us pizza and giving us drinks. She let us cool off in her house too. Thanks to Cassandra Elmer for the photo.

Trip overview

Well the trip is officially over and we are on the way home. I thought that while we were working we really connected with our homeowners, Dennis and Vita. Some of the sights that we saw while driving through the ninth ward really hit me and showed how bad the damage caused by Katrina really was and is. It was a lot of fun, I learned a lot, and I would finitely do it again.
-alicia.

Rocking the edward cullen look. You know its awesome lol. When I am reduced to doing this you know that I am bored. -Skyler

smushed bananas

This week has been one of the longest but one of the most eye-opening of my life.  The first day gave my group a chance to connect with on ev of the home-owners, Vita.   She is one of the most welcoming people I know.  she provided us with food, cold drinks and hospitality.  The next day allowed us to establish a relationship with Vita's husband, Dennis.  He helped out with the construction and madeus laugh many, many times.  I'm so glad we were able to form connections with Vita and Dennis and on that note I can only say: popeyes, ladder dancing, fleur de lis garden and smushed bananas. <3

megan donato :)

Work is done

Today was a very productive day at the worksite. I think we have come a long way since the beginning of the week. All of us have gained new skils and we have  become closer as friends. Taylor

All cracked up

Today we worked on the fence that we tore down yesterday while the chicks worked on a ceiling elseware.  We miscalculated the position of the four by fours several times thus causing a quick job to take all day.  Thank god that people the owners of the property offered to buy us pizza in order to escape our skimpy and normal homemade lunches.
SMG

Last evening papaw the coordinator of ocs approached me, immediately apprehensive I asked him how we did, and he said we exceeded his expectations for such a young group, that kim collins and I supervised, I taught them a quick science lesson, the use of using a fulcrom lever to lift large objects with little energy.  After that we went and demolished an old fence, and managed to catch mad gecko's.  One of which I think used to be a commercial super star.  J.w

Work day 1

Today the girls (plus Ken) worked on insulation and sheetrock. All of our arms are very itchy. The homeowner is very nice and has kittens along with feeding us. I am starting to wonder whether controling a cordless drill is a genetic thing, because I can suddenly use one without hardly any experience.
Cassndra Elmer

Starting bright and early monday morning, I was feeling motivated and ready to work. We started in the morning with taki ng down a fence. The vegetation down here is mu ch thicker than in new york. Then we moved on to destroying a sidewalk using sledgehammer and a pickaxe. We finished anx then didnt really know what to do... Butit was good in general.
Zachary "amazing rapper" Whitenack.

April 2011 Mission to New Orleans

In April 2011 we have again partnered with Operation Southern Comfort to rebuild lives in New Orleans. Our group consists of 8 youth and 5 adults. We left Watertown at 4am on a Saturday morning to undertake the 2 day journey. We had an overnight stop at Gateway Baptist Church in Bluff City TN just south of Bristol where we slept (sort of) on the gym floor.

The weather turned to rain around Harrisburg PA. The radar maps looked extremely ominous but we traveled between 2 fronts through much of Virginia until just north of Lexington. Then it really started to lightning in spectacular fashion and pour. We made an earlier than expected stop to see if it would blow over. We got lucky. Later we found out there were tornado watches around us and several people were killed by this front. We drove out of it and things were dry in Bristol although still windy. Dinner was at Sonic and then off to the movies.

Sunday dawned clear and sunny and the wind was gone. Beautiful weather for travel. We were at McDonald's at 6am waiting for them to open. Our journey was unremarkable and we ate lunch at Popeye's.

More details to come.